Philadelphia vs Arizona Betting
Headline: Battle of the Unexpected Unbeatens – Eagles Travel to Arizona
How many of you expected the Philadelphia Eagles and the Arizona Cardinals to enter Week 3 of the NFL season undefeated? Ya, right! Both teams have ridden their share of luck to 2-0 records. For Philadelphia it has been the fact that they have won despite turning the ball over nine times in two games and for Arizona it has been the inability of their opposition to get it done late in the games.
Philadelphia Eagles (2-0) vs. Arizona Cardinals (2-0)
Date/Time: Sunday, September 23, 2012, 4:05 PM ET
Venue: University of Phoenix Stadium
Broadcast: FOX
Eagles vs. Cardinals Betting Lines from betonline.com
Spread: Eagles -4 (-110)
Moneyline: Eagles -215: Cardinals +185
Over/Under: 43 1/2 points
Something has to give Sunday – one of these teams will be an inexplicable 3-0 heading into Week 4!
The Philadelphia Eagles lead the very tough NFC East after a less than scintillating win against Cleveland and an impressive home win against Baltimore – both in come-from-behind fashion.
But as mentioned they may be lucky to be undefeated so far. Michael Vick has done nothing this year to prove his legion of doubters wrong – he has a 59% completion percentage, he has thrown just three touchdowns versus sis, yes six interceptions.
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DeSean Jackson and Brent Celek have been solid in giving Vick quality outlets but as per usual Vick is holding the ball entirely too long and he is getting knocked around to Andy Reid’s dismay.
Jeremy Maclin is battling injury – he may not play this week which would be a blow to the Eagles already inconsistent passing game.
Philadelphia’s defense has been OK in giving up just an average of 268 yards per game. They have generated four sacks so far and picked off the quarterback five times. The defense is minimizing the effects of their offenses propensity for turning the ball over – this unit may be the sole reason that the Eagles are undefeated.
The Arizona Cardinals are the luckiest 2-0 team in recent memory. The Seattle Seahawks had nine chances inside the Red Zone in the waning moments of their Week 1 game but couldn’t convert and the Patriots missed a very makeable field goal with no time remaining to secure their Week 2 win. But a win is a win and the Cards enjoy a share of first place in the AFC West either way! [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Kevin Kolb looks like he will get his second straight start – John Skelton appears unlikely to suit up Sunday. Kolb passed for two touchdowns in Week 2 and played well enough to justify his ridiculous contract. Larry Fitzgerald was held in check last week to the tune of four yards receiving – incredible! That likely won’t happen again in his career! Arizona’s running game has been a disaster – Beanie Wells is averaging 2.8 yards per carry and Ryan Williams is clipping along at 1.2 yards per carry.
The Arizona defense entered the season underrated but teams have been gaining their share of yards on this unit. They have generated seven sacks so far but they will have to be better as a whole – the Arizona offense isn’t likely to win too many games the rest of the way!
Betting Prediction: Arizona is 5-0 against the spread in their last five games against NFC teams, 5-1 against the spread in their last six home games, and 9-3 against the spread in their last 12 games overall. Philadelphia is 4-1 against the spread in their last five road games against a team with a winning home record and 3-8 against the spread following a game which they didn’t cover. The home team is covered in four of the last five meetings of these two.
The luck is going to run out for one of these teams and my guess is that it will be Philadelphia’s. Arizona should be able to take advantage of the turnover machines that are the Philadelphia Eagles and make them pay for once. Arizona isn’t great but neither is Philadelphia. In a battle of the overachievers I like the home team to prevail.
Pick: Arizona Cardinal +4
